Improvement in sewing-machines



L. BOLLMAN.

Sewing Machine.

' 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

No. 33,415. Patnted Oct 1, 1861.

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UNITED STATES PATENT rinse.

LOUIS BOLLMAN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO GROVER 86 BAKERSEWING MAGHINE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part Letters Patent No. 33,415, dated October 1,1861.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Lonrs BOLLMAN, of the city of Boston, county ofMiddlesex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new anduseful Improvemen tsin Sewing-Machines and I do hereby declare that thefollowing, taken in connection with the drawings, is a full, clear, andexact description thereof.

, In the drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of the machine in whichmy improvements are embodied, with a portion of the bed-platerepresented as broken away. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the machinewith part of the bedplate removed. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are detaildrawings, showing different positions that the needleshuttle and hooksassume in the operation of the machine. Fig. 6 is a-plan of the shuttle,shuttle-race, shuttle-driver, and seizing and detaining hooks. Fig. 7 isa plan of the same Without the shuttle. Fig. 8 is a longitudinal sectionthrough the shuttle and its race. Fig. 9 is a rear elevation of theshuttle, and Fig. 10 is aplan and elevation of the loopstop.

My invention has been made with a view of overcoming certain defectsincident to the operation of shuttle-machines, and by means of myimprovements I ain enabled to produce a sewingmachine with a shortstroke of needle, with a needle driven by a crank-motion, and withoutany thread controlling apparatus above the cloth, which will run atgreat speed and almost without noise, and make the ordinaryshuttle-stitch; and the nature of my invention consists in combiningboth a seizing and a detaining hook, acting substantially as hereinafterdescribed, with a shuttle and an eye-pointed needle, the combinationoperating substantially as hereinafter set forth, and also in combininga loop-stop, acting as described, with a seizing-hook and an eyepoin tedneedle, substantially in the manner as hereinafter specified.

In the drawings my improvements are shown as embodied in what is usuallytermed a family machine, with a curved needle, and what is commonlyknown as a four-motion or Fitzgerald friction-feed, and with theshuttle-driver and hooks and needle-arm moved by the same crank-pin; butmy improvements are applicable to machines of various forms with ployedmay'move in a straight'line.

1n the drawings the bed-plate of the ma chine is shown at an a, thestandard carrying the presser-foot at b, the needle-arm at c c, theneedle at d, the roughened feeding-surface at c, the driving pulley atf, and the crank-pin actuating the needle, the shuttle, and the hooks at9. By inspection of the drawings it will be perceived that the crankpinacts in a slot in the needle-arm, and in what is termed a hook-stock, h,and that a revolution of the pulley will cause both the needle and thehook-stock to reciprocate.

Under the top plate of the machine is fixed a shuttle-race, t i, and theportion of the top plate above the shuttle-race is movable, as in manysewing-machines. In this race is to play a shuttle of any ordinary kind;but I prefer that shown in the drawings, with an equalizingcurve, asatz'flfor the thread to pass under. This thread is to pass outofanaperture in. the top of the shuttle (seeFig. 6) when the machineis to beput in operation. This shuttle lies, as usual, in the bottom of therace, and is to be driven by a shuttle-driver composed of a projectiomj,acting against the heel of the shuttle, and a pin, j, acting against theshuttle-case and entering a small hole cutin the case. (See Figs. 6, 7,8, and 9.) The shuttle has a small amount of play in the driver. Thesedrivers are, in fact, attached to the hook-stock, and to this stock arealso secured two hooks--a seizinghook, l, and a detaining-hook, m. Theseizinghook lies in close proximity to the front of the shuttle, and isto be formed substantially as shown in the drawings to produce theresults specified. The point of theshuttle is slightly bent toward thehook and liesin a hole, groove, or depression in the hook shown at It,the extreme pointlying within the book. This hook has also a groovein iton the side farthest from the shuttle, as shown at n. The detaininghookat is also attached to the hook-stock. Its end laps beyond the point ofthe seizing-hook, and is bent toward the shuttle, (see Fig. 6,) so as toenter a small depression in the shuttlecase. This book is to be shapedsubstantially as shown in the drawings, so as to detain or control loopsof needle-thread in the manner hereinafter specified, and its end restsupon various feed apparatus, and the shuttle ema small piece of bentmetal, 0, secured in the shuttle in such a way that the point of theshuttle is thereby prevented from rising. This shuttle has projectingfrom it a sort of pin, 0, which, like the piece 0, underlies the hook,and by means of this pin the heel of the shuttle is held down. I preferto make this detaininghook springy, or to mount it on a hinge, in orderthat it may be bent away from the shuttle, so as to permit the latter tobe lifted upward and removed, and so that it will ben'd outward when theshuttle is introduced; but other ways permitting removal andintroduction of the shuttle may be employed. This detaining orcontrolling hook has a groove,n, cut in it, which performs no part inthe operation of the machine, but merely permits the hook to play freelypast a loop-stop hereinafter described. If the shuttle be in place andthe main shaft revolved, both hooks and the shuttle will reciprocate aswell as thc'necdle, and the needle will be at rest while the hooks aremoving fast, and these latter will be at rest while the needle isascending or descending swiftly. The hooks, shuttle, and needle musthave relative motion, so they operate toproduce the effects asdescribed; but the mechanical appliances by which such motions areproduced are immaterial.

In this machine there are two loop-stops, p and q. For the sake ofconvenience they are formed in one piece, 1", which is attached beneaththe bed-plate of the machine in such position that both stops lie in thegroove n at parts of the oscillation of the hook-that is to say, thepoints of the stops lie within the plane of the hook. One oftheseloop-stops, q, wasinvented prior to the invention of the improvementsherein described, and is specified'as of my invention in an applicationfor Letters Patent now pending.

In the machine specially described the upper-thread spool is mountedupon the bed-plate.

at s, the thread being passed through a tension apparatus at t, thencethrough an eye at a, through another tension at c, and finally throughthe eye of the needle; but the position of the tensions, and thekindthereof, and the way of leading the thread are immaterial; and oneof the tensions may be dispensed with, provided the thread is in someproper way furnished, as wanted, to the needle.

In operating the machine the needle descends and rises a little to forma loop. (See Fig. 4.) The seizing-hook, moving inthe direction of arrow,Fig. 4, enters this loop, spreads it, carries one side of it betweenloop-stop q and the hook, and when the thread has caught upon loop stop19 carries the loop into position, as shown in Fig. 3, by consideringwhich it will be perceived that the stop 9) has aided the hook todrawout and tighten a larger loop of thread than the book could if unaided.Before the parts reach the position shown in Fig. 3 the part of the loopnearest the shuttle has slipped between the points of the shuttle andthe hook, and the hooks then commence to move in the direction shown bythe arrow,Fig. 1. The first motion in that direction slacks the loop'.The nose of the shuttle then strikes it and carries the loop from stop19 against stop q. The latter holds the loop, and as the parts move theshuttle passes into the loop, which then surrounds the seizing-hook, theshuttle,

and the detaining-hook. Further motion in the same direction withdrawsthe seizing-hook from the loop, and the parts arrive at thepositionshown in Fig. 1. The'parts move on in the same direction to the positionshown in Fig. 5, and as the needle has here descended ing thedetaining-hook until it slips out freev between the end of thedetaining-hook and the shuttle, and as the seizing-hook, aided byloopstop, fully spreads this new loop, it in so doing draws up thecast-off loop to the cloth,

thus tightening the stitch. The shuttle-drivers do not impede the loopduring these operation s, as they are alternately out of contact 1 withthe shuttle, the shuttle being driven by j while the loop is slippingover its heel, and

being propelled by the projection j while the thread is passingbctweenthe shuttle and the The seizing and detaining hooks and shuttle Ymay be variously changed in form so long as they operate, substantiallyasdescri bed,in combination, and the special offices of the seizing hookare to seize a loop, spread it, and hold it so that the reciprocatingshuttle may enter it. The peculiarities in the action of thedetaining-hook are that itshall control. and take charge of slack loopsafter the shuttle has passed through them, and shall also hold the heelof the shuttle in place and prevent it from flying out of the race, thislatter duty being chiefly performed by that. end of the hook nearest theheel of the shuttle. hook therefore detains or aids in holding theshuttle in place, and also detains and controls slack loops ofneedle-thread and the shuttle must support a bobbin of thread, and passthat thread through loops spread by the seizinghook. The essentialoffice of the loop-stop 1) is to aid the seizing-hook to spread widelyloops of needle thread that have been seized, and, as a result thereof,assist in pulling tight slack loops of needle-thread that have beentraversed by the shuttle. The action of the detaining-hook is importantin preventing any intertangling of slack loops with the needle or withthe seizing-hook.

Having thus described my improvements as This and a seizing-hook, actingsubstantially as specified, a loop-stop substantially such as isdescribed, and acting to aid a seizing-hook in spreading loops ofneedle-thread, substantially .in the manner specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name, in the city ofBoston, on this 16th d'ayof January, A. D. 1861.

LOUIS BOLLMAN.

In presence of- I. H. BROWN,v J. O. WADE.

